The 1983 McDonald's All-American Boys Game was an
All-star basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...
game played on Saturday, April 9, 1983 at the
Omni Coliseum in
Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,7 ...
. The game's rosters featured the best and most highly recruited high school boys graduating in 1983. The game was the 6th annual version of the
McDonald's All-American Game first played in 1978.
1983 game
The East team could count on the two top guards from the state of New York: Kenny Smith and Dwayne "Pearl" Washington, and also had several of the top 10 players of the class. The West had top-ranked forward Winston Bennett and center Joe Wolf.
The East dominated the first half and at halftime led the score 73 to 62.
The West came back during the second half, guided by two Kentucky commits: James Blackmon and Winston Bennett.
With 4:31 remaining, the West was still 11 points behind, but an 11-0 run tied the score. The decisive layup was scored by Blackmon with 9 seconds remaining on the clock: Dwayne Washington scored a layup with 1 second left, but the officials called a charge and the basket did not count.
The West won the game 115 to 113: Washington (11 points and 8 assists) was named MVP together with Bennett, who scored 21 points. Other players who had good performances were Tom Sheehey (the top scorer of the game with 22 points), Blackmon (21 points), Bruce Dalrymple (16) and Michael Smith (15).
[A LOOK BACK AT THE McDONALD'S ALL AMERICAN GAMES SUPERSTARS AND UNFORGETTABLE MEMORIES FROM GAMES PAST]
/ref>[ 1983 game and rosters at page 69.] Of the 25 players, 12 went on to play at least 1 game in the NBA.
East roster
[ 1983 roster at pages 3.]
West roster
Coaches
The East team was coached by:
* Head Coach Buddy Gardler of Cardinal O'Hara High School
Cardinal O'Hara High School is a coeducational Catholic high school of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. The school is named after John Francis O'Hara who was Roman Catholic Archbishop of Philadelphia from 1951 to 1960. It is located in Spring ...
(Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
)
The West team was coached by:
* Head Coach Joe Treat of Bryant High School (Bryant, Arkansas
Bryant is a city in Saline County, Arkansas, United States and a suburb of Little Rock. According to the 2010 Census, the population of the city was 16,688. It is part of the Central Arkansas region.
History
European settlers established themsel ...
)
References
External links
McDonald's All-American on the webMcDonald's All-American all-time rostersGame stats at Realgm.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:McDonald's
1982–83 in American basketball
1983
The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call.
Events January
* January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning ...
1983 in sports in Georgia (U.S. state)
Basketball in Atlanta